平滑钩藤 ping hua gou teng

Nauclea laevigata (Wallich ex G. Don) Walpers.

Lianas, height unknown. Young stems slender, quadrangular, glabrous [to puberulent]. Petiole 7-11 mm, glabrous; leaf blade drying thinly leathery, elliptic, lanceolate, or elliptic-oblong, 8.5-12 × 3-6 cm, glabrous on both surfaces or puberulent on veins abaxially, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute or acuminate; secondary veins 4-7 pairs, usually with hirtellous domatia; stipules caducous, elliptic-oblong to ovate, 4-6 mm, 1-lobed for 1/2 or more, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, lobes narrowly triangular, acute. Inflorescences axillary and sometimes in terminal groupings, glabrous; peduncles 2.5-6 cm, simple; bracts 2-4 mm; flowering heads 8-10 mm in diam. across calyces, 25-35 mm in diam. across corollas; bracteoles linear or subspatulate, 2-3 mm. Flowers sessile. Calyx with hypanthium portion obconic, 1-1.5 mm, densely sericeous or strigose; limb densely puberulent to strigillose, with tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes ligulate, 0.1-0.3 mm, obtuse. Corolla color unknown, salverform, glabrous outside; tube 7-10 mm; lobes oblong, ca. 2 mm, obtuse to rounded. Fruiting head 25-30 mm in diam. Fruit sessile, fusiform, 6-8 mm, strigose to strigillose; seeds not seen. Fl. and fr. May-Nov.

Forests; 600-1300 m. Guangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].